The 17 member Park and Trail Legacy Advisory Committee is appointed by the Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, the Chair of the Metropolitan Council and the Chair of the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission. The mission of the committee is to champion the 25 year "Parks and Trails Legacy Plan" by providing recommendations to enhance promotion, coordination, and accountability throughout implementation of the plan.
To provide grants to local units of government to support parks and trails of regional or statewide significance outside of the seven county metropolitan area. Funding for this grant program is from the Parks and Trails Fund created by the Minnesota Legislature from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment passed by the voters in 2008. Beginning July 1, 2015 (fiscal year 2016), the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission (GMRPTC) assumed management of reviewing and awarding these grants.
To hire a qualified consultant to develop a Historic Structure Report that will help preserve the St. Paul Public Library/James J. Hill Reference Library, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Since 1976, Penumbra Theatre has ignited dialogue and social action in the Twin Cities and beyond by presenting original, compelling works grounded in the history of African American artistic expression and social justice. The 2016-2017 season marks Penumbra's 40th anniversary, and MNHS is developing an exhibit on the theater's rich history and legacy, in partnership with Penumbra and the University of Minnesota Libraries Archives and Special Collections.
The purpose of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture's monitoring activities is to determine the presence and concentration of pesticides in Minnesota's groundwater and surface water. Monitoring information is used to characterize and assess the extent of pesticide impacts to Minnesota's water resources.
Minnesota’s twelve regional library systems, which encompass more than 350 public libraries in all areas of the state, can benefit from a portion of the Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Through State Library Services, a division of the Minnesota Department of Education, each regional library system is eligible to receive a formula-driven allocation from the annual $2.2 million Minnesota Regional Library System Legacy Grant. Pioneerland Library System (PLS) is a consolidated regional public library system in west central Minnesota.
This groundbreaking project creates a new model for school field trips, using mobile and web technologies to capitalize on the natural behaviors and learning styles of today's students.
The Pomme de Terre River Association will partner with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to conduct water quality monitoring in the Pomme de Terre River Watershed. The purpose will be to determine if waters meet the states non-point source pollution standards. The data collected will be utilized to produce the cycle two Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) report and supporting documents for the watershed. Through the utilization of this funding a total of 11 lakes and 7 stream reaches will be assessed.
This project will establish a framework with the Pomme de Terre River Association (PDTRA), county staff, Soil and Water Conservation District staff, and state agencies that will outline their involvement throughout the development of the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) for the Pomme de Terre River watershed. This work will form the basis to establish restoration and protection strategies that local governments and watershed organizations can use to make decisions that will lead to protecting and restoring the waters in the watershed.
The goal of this project is to extend through 2016, calibrate, and validate the existing watershed model using Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) for the Pomme de Terre River Watershed. The contractor will produce an HSPF model that can readily be used to provide information to support conventional parameter Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) studies.
Pope County Ditch 6 (CD 6) is an 18 mile channelized watershed and a primary tributary to Ashley Creek. CD6 and Ashley Creek are impaired for bacteria, dissolved oxygen and aquatic organisms. This project will address the storm water runoff concerns identified within this public drainage system in conjunction with repairs scheduled for 2017-2018. Alternative intake structures to manage nutrients and other practices, such as water and sediment control basins, will be installed to retain water on the upland properties and minimize flow rate and velocity.
This program is to increase prescribed burning on Division of Parks and Trails (PAT) lands in order to meet shortfalls in achieving PAT restoration and management objectives.
This project will result in the development of three critical pieces of information. They include: 1. Development of restoration and protection strategies for all waterbodies in the district relative to the State's Non-point Source Funding plan 2. Use of PTMApp to tie the WRAPs implementation tables from the Buffalo and Red River Watersheds to targeted on-the-ground projects and practices that will provide measurable water quality improvements, and 3.
MNHS continues to build a culture of evaluation. An evaluation manager leads institutional evaluation capacity building and provides technical assistance and support to staff who evaluate ACHF projects and programs. An evaluation associate in the Education and Lifelong Learning division facilitates evaluation efforts, specifically in K-12 education and public programs. Three interns and numerous volunteers continue to support evaluation work.
This will fund a competitive grant program for sewer projects that will help protect or restore the water quality of waters in national parks located within Minnesota.
MNHS staff created communication strategies and promotional materials for Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund history projects, program, and grants, including media kits for grant recipients and the creation of the annual report. Increasing public awareness of ACHF investments will ensure that students, teachers and the general public will use and benefit from them.
Realizing the need for increased technical capacity in the field offices, the Becker, East Otter Tail and West Otter Tail Soil and Water Conservation Districts have developed an agreement that will increase technical capacity while minimizing costs to each district. The first step was taken in this agreement through the recent hire of a shared engineer. Currently, minimal survey grade equipment is owned by the districts. This grant will be used to purchase an integrated survey system.
In FY17, MNHS will launch a new records search to make it easier for library patrons to access birth, death, veterans grave and state census records. The new search tool launched in beta in December 2016, and user feedback is being collected. Site enhancements will be made in the second half of the fiscal year.
Continue Recreation and Volunteer Specialist position initiated in 2014 to develop and implement recreation and volunteer programs. Engage 3,300 park visitors through 100 programs provided in the County.